Today Marks My Historic 5-Year Anniversary Being On The Low-Carb Lifestyle

I can hardly remember that 410-pound man I used to be before 2004

Low-carb is just not sustainable over the long-term. Cutting out an entire food group like that will leave you malnourished and unhealthy. You’ll get so bored eating meat, eggs, and cheese every single day that you will go out and binge on sugar and carbs as a rebellious act. (And my personal favorite) When you add back in the carbohydrates to your diet again, you’ll put the weight back on faster than you took it off (assuming you are going to start eating lots of carbs again).

You know, looking at some of those excuses for NOT going on a low-carb diet, they can seem logical and even somewhat reasonable based on the basic knowledge most people have about weight loss. After all, it’s good to have balance in your diet with a variety of foods that keeps things interesting enough that you’ll want to eat that way for the rest of your life, right? Well, I’m here to testify today that livin’ la vida low-carb is all of that and more for me.

Today, January 1, 2009 marks my 5-year anniversary being on the low-carb lifestyle. Little did I know back in 2004 when I began this amazing journey to better health with the Atkins diet after reading Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution just how much my life would change physically with my weight and health as well as many other areas of my life, including my new career as a full-time low-carb blogger, podcaster, YouTuber, and more!

It’s all been a dream world for me to be able to share my success story with literally hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, most of whom I’ll never meet in person. But the literally hundreds of e-mails that I receive each week confirm that the work I am doing IS making an impact on the lives of real people who need their own inspiration, motivation and encouragement to take this journey for themselves. This weight loss and radical change in my life was and is still my greatest accomplishment in life.

Five years seems like such a long ago, but at the same time it doesn’t. Time has flown by since losing 180 pounds in one year and yet there are plenty of opportunities that come up where the old Jimmy Moore comes face to face with the new one. Although I’m finding it more and more difficult to remember what it was like being obese, there are times when a vision of those days will flash in my head giving me the sober reminder that I am so much better off than I was before.

No more struggling to breathe, no more worries about chest pains, no more dreading walking around Wal-Mart with my wife, no more taking three prescription drugs to control high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and wheezing, no more hating going to the movies or sitting on an airplane seat, no more Big & Tall stores, no more ripping the seat of my pants getting into my car, no more relentless sweating even in the dead of winter, no more wishing I could do more with my life, no more regrets. These days I am doing everything I could ever dream of doing and more.

And I have the low-carb lifestyle to thank for giving me my life back!

While the rhetoric about low-carb dieting prevents so many people from taking advantage of this scientifically-based nutritional approach that is far superior to low-fat diets not just for weight loss, but for health improvements, the fact of the matter is most people who have struggled time and time again on the diet recommended by the so-called health “experts” are finding the most success when they turn to low-carb.

You may not hear about it in the media, but millions of people are cutting the carbohydrates and replacing it with fat and moderate amounts of protein to satiate their hunger, control the release of insulin (the #1 reason fat accumulates in the body), and burn stored body fat (not just weight, but actual body fat). This is not sensationalism, it’s a fact well-documented in the medical literature as I highlight often in my columns.

The past few years have not always been easy for me and I never expected it to be. When I lost my weight in 2004, everyone was telling me how good I looked and that the work I invested in changing my life was done. My response back to them was, “The work has only now begun.” And that was 100% true as I’ve experienced all the ups and downs you would expect after such a significant weight loss.

And despite the naysayers, I have still kept the majority of that original weight loss off. Even with a mysterious and sudden 35-pound weight gain in early 2008 that just came out of nowhere following my foray into weight lifting and struggling to get that weight off all year trying everything I knew to get the scale moving back down again, I FINALLY found going completely “sweet”-free for most of November and all of December helped me take off over 25 pounds and my weight return back to the 230s again for the first time since last year.

Today I weigh just under ten pounds more than I did at the end of 2004 when I hit 230. And that’s perfectly fine with me, although I’m still actively working on bringing my weight back down. Although my weight is slightly higher now, my clothes fit me perfectly. I attribute this to the muscle weight I’ve gained over the past year with regular resistance training and conditioning. I’m as healthy as an ox and enjoy living an active low-carb lifestyle. I can’t imagine ever going back to plopping on the couch eating whole boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes while watching “The Biggest Loser!” That’s not who I am anymore.

I know what you’re thinking, though. Sure, Jimmy lost all that weight and kept it off for years now–but what’s his health like, hmmmmm? I enjoy answering this question much more than talking about my weight loss success. Because this gets into the nitty gritty of why I am so super-excited about sharing with people the positive message of low-carb living.

You see, weight loss is merely a side effect of beginning a low-carb way of eating–improving your HEALTH is what it’s really all about. And even the traditional tests like total cholesterol and LDL don’t give you the whole picture of what’s happening to you. That’s why silly studies on statin drugs like this one encouraging more and more people to take them unnecessarily drive me crazy. The fact is my latest cholesterol numbers are stellar when you look at them through the lens of the most modern tests like the NMR Lipoprofile from LipoScience:

LDL Particle Number: 1453
Small LDL Particle Number: 30

Let me translate that for you. The small, dense, and dangerous LDL particles are the ones you DON’T want in your blood because they lead to plaque buildup, inflammation in the arteries, blockages, and eventual atherosclerosis. Of my total LDL particles, a mere TWO PERCENT are this kind that you don’t want. Doctors hope to keep that number below 600, but mine was 30. Yes, my LDL cholesterol number is 250, but 98 percent of that LDL is the large, fluffy, and protective kind that keeps you out of danger of getting heart disease.

Add to this wonderful news about my LDL the fact that my HDL “good” cholesterol is an outstanding 65 (should be above 40) and my triglycerides are 85 (should be under 150) and this proves my diet is not making me more unhealthy–on the contrary, I’ve never been more healthy in my life! And these changes are a result of eating a high amount of fat, even saturated fat, moderate amounts of protein, and very little carbohydrates. This is a recipe for weight loss and health progress like you’ve never experienced before!

Would I have ever been able to experience these kinds of what I consider miraculous changes in my life had I listened to all those negative comments about low-carb prior to my New Year’s resolution in 2004? Absolutely not! This is why I encourage people these days to ignore those who would try to dissuade them from livin’ la vida low-carb based on health concerns because quite frankly they don’t know what they talking about. Heck, even I have my critics to this day despite my five-year track record of personal weight loss and health success!

If you are reading this and thinking you’d like to get started on your own low-carb lifestyle, then let me encourage you to do the following:

1. Read a low-carb book like Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, Protein Power by Drs. Mike & Mary Dan Eades, or for a side-by-side comparison of the most popular low-carb diets get Dr. Jonny Bowden’s Living The Low-Carb Life.

2. Have your doctor conduct a Lipoprofile blood test to measure your LDL particle size, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides at baseline so you can see how much improvement low-carb will make on your health.

3. Commit to following your chosen low-carb plan exactly as prescribed for at least three months and continually educate yourself more and more about the low-carb lifestyle (read Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories for an excellent history of the science behind low-carb).

4. Get active support not just from your friends and family, but by getting involved with others who have been successful eating this way online through low-carb forums like this one I created.

5. Most importantly, NEVER, NEVER, EVER GIVE UP! You’ll face struggles, temptations, cravings, and even some pain early on when you do this. But let me tell you, the payoff in the end is worth it all if you can just stick it out until you reach your goal.

As I reflect on the past five years of low-carb living, I can’t help but be grateful to all those who encouraged me, gave me strength, and lifted me up when I felt like calling it quits. As a means of paying it forward, I stand ready to help anyone who has any questions or concerns they want to share with me anytime. I’m always just an e-mail away at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. It is my pleasure and honor to serve you and be there as you strive to become a long-term low-carb success, too. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!